Strands
by Sentinel
Summary: The aftermath of Alkali Lake throws up new chances and problems for a number of people


Disclaimer: Most characters are the property of Marvel or Fox 

* * * * *

  


In hindsight, he realized that fate had a way of bringing the right people together. 

He had noticed her the moment he stepped into the small corner café but then again she was hard to miss. It wasn't so much that she was beautiful, even though she was undoubtedly that, it had more to do with the way she carried herself. In his opinion she appeared to be confidence incarnate. And for someone like Remy LeBeau, whose livelihood depended on his own unerring sense of self assuredness, that attribute in a woman was like a drug. 

He stayed by the door to better watch her make her way from the counter to one of the few empty tables left in the place during what was the busy lunch time period. She moved gracefully around the other patrons before leaning back into the empty seat and carefully taking the slightest drop of whatever beverage she purchased. 

Remy moved from the door, his lean frame easily slipping between bodies as he eased his way lazily towards her, not so slow as to attract attention but just fast enough that he could drink in her every detail. Even through the shades he perpetually wore he could tell that she normally must have had rather pallid skin, as it only showed the barest hint of coloring, whereas most people at this stage in the summer were a healthy chestnut brown. She had a long and luxurious mane of brunette hair that swept over her shoulders and down her back. Her face was hidden from him but he could detect the faintest hint of a delicate neck. 

As he approached her, he slowed his gait even further and studied her carefully. She was hunched over something, her hand occasionally reaching almost absently for the plastic cup on the table. 

The woman started when he lightly touched her shoulder. 

"Excuse me," he stated with trademark confidence, his natural drawl buried under a nondescript accent, "but is this seat taken?" 

Oh she was a beauty all right. She had generous lips and high cheekbones with bright, almost mischievous green eyes. She fluttered long eyelashes before giving him a playful smile that most have set more then a few hearts beating. 

"Go right ahead," she gestured over at the empty chair opposite her. 

Remy slid by her and sat down casually. Reaching into his well worn duster he removed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and placed them on the table as he attempted to give her a quick once over, hopefully avoiding appearing too blatant under her curious gaze. She was wearing a bright red shirt with the words "Natural Born Bitch" imprinted on the chest in a spray paint like scrawl. From what he could see, she had curves in all the right places, not overwhelmingly so, but more then enough to make a man sit up and take notice. She could easily have been a model; not one of those malnourished ones but the athletic kind that you'd find staring down at you from Sports Illustrated. 

"So do you come here to have lunch or just to pick up unsuspecting girls?" she asked him, her voice betraying amusement more then any annoyance at his cursory inspection of her. 

"Both if I can manage it," Remy responded playfully before giving her half the truth. "The counter is busy so I'll just wait here awhile...if you don't mind." 

"Nah…Books are nice but cute boys are better," she smiled as she put down the book that had held her so rapt a few moments before. Even to Remy's trained ear, her accent was unusual sounding, like an odd mix of mid-western American and something more exotic, eastern European most likely. 

Remy adjusted his head so he could make out the title of the novel. It was something in a language he didn't immediately recognize...Italian he figured. This one apparently had beauty and brains. 

"Is it any good?" he asked, nodding towards the book that she placed on the table between them, forming a natural wall between them. 

"It's typically Italian," she shrugged, "all sex and melancholy." 

Remy smiled boldly, unable to help himself as he leant back to inquire impishly, "Which part do you prefer? The sex or the melancholy?" 

She began to lean forward to presumably respond when it hit him; the most intense pain that he had ever felt. Every nerve ending seared, overloading his mind with flaming agony. His body snapped instinctively as he screamed, knocking the table over, before he fell convulsing to the floor, any semblance of self control lost as his body tried to tear itself apart. 

Time lost all meaning to him as the remaining rational part of his brain prayed for a quick and merciful death to release him and then as if in answer, the searing anguish stopped, the only pain he could feel remaining from where he crashed his knee into the ground on falling. 

As his senses returned he was assaulted by a new phenomena. Now all around him people writhed in agony, their banshee wails echoing his own from only a few moments ago. He turned slowly to see his lunch partner staring at him in silence, her brown eyes clearly able to see his red on black ones now that his sunglasses had fallen away during the last few moments. He immediately noticed a small bubble of blood forming where she had evidently bit her lower lip. 

They held each other's gaze as all around them people could only bellow their anguish. She held out her hand to Remy, as she looked away from him to the door. 

"We have to get out of here...I know somewhere we can go...somewhere safe." 

Remy hesitated a moment, still rather stunned from what had occurred but weighed up the facts simply. Firstly, the two of them were standing while everyone else had hit the deck. Secondly, he felt a connection with the girl, an instinctive trust towards her and finally there was the fact that she was a beautiful woman and asking him to leave with her, which was always a good thing in his book. 

They made their way hastily out of the cafe, falling over a tortured body more then once as they did so. Outside the situation seemed much the same, the street in chaos as people were struck down by this mystery horror that had assaulted them earlier. 

"Quickly," she urged Remy, plunging out from beneath the cafe's canopy and down a street, littered with the afflicted, leaving him with little option but to hang on to her hand. 

They hadn't been running for more then a few minutes when the din suddenly stopped as people all around seemed to regain their senses. This fact didn't deter Remy's companion from moving as quickly as she could; turning this way and that until even Remy, who was a seasoned traveler, felt that he was quite lost. 

Finally on turning down a fairly dingy looking alley she stopped, releasing Remy to prop herself against a wet bricked wall, her breath coming to her in ragged stops and starts. 

Remy, who believed himself to be capably athletic, was still glad of the opportunity to catch his breath and walked in a shallow circle fighting to fill his lungs with oxygen. 

It was he who spoke first. 

"What the hell just happened?" he practically shouted, his fear and confusion clearly evident as his natural accent reestablished itself forcibly. 

"I don't know," the girl responded turning to him, her face regaining its color somewhat, "but it seemed to affect people like us first." Her voice was a calm, if still a little unsteady from their flight. 

"People like us?" Remy echoed defensively, just catching that little part of what she said. 

"People like us," she repeated reassuringly as she reached up with her delicate forefinger and traced from his forehead down to his jaw, slightly rough with a day's worth of stubble. With her other hand she reached up and replaced the sunglasses that he had long since forgotten about. 

A mixture of fear and lust rose rapidly in Remy and with little prompting he crushed his lips onto hers, tasting a little blood from the small cut there. Quickly their two distinct forms pressed against each other as two willingly became one. 

* * * * *

  


To someone as attuned to Erik as Mystique was, she was practically wilting from the misery pouring off her companion. She glanced sideways at him and found him deep in thought, his elbow propped against the window of the car, the fingers of his hand slowly tapping on his chin. She quickly looked away, before his profound sense of disappointment overwhelmed her own sense of satisfaction in having him back. Were they alone she would have tended to him, her entreaties pulling him from the brink like he had done for her so many times before. But sadly in her mind, they had company at the moment. 

In the back seat, oblivious to the drama playing out right in front of him, the newest member of the Brotherhood absently played with his ever present lighter as he idly watched the inhabitants of the small town going about their business, still musing on the course he had just set upon. Despite the pretension of rebelliousness he wore so readily, she had little doubt that he would not be so laid back had he known what Erik had just attempted to do. 

To wipe out all non-mutants on the planet in one fell swoop was not something one undertook lightly. 

She herself had never believed that the plan would succeed. Oh she believed in the power of Stryker's machine, having felt it herself first hand. She had no doubts concerning what Xavier could do but what was absolutely clear in her mind was that while his lapdogs were alive and kicking, any plot involving the benevolent Professor would only ever have one outcome and it wasn't one that favored her or her adopted family. 

Still she had gone along with the scheme for Erik's sake. His anger had been as palpable then as his despair was now and his thirst for vengeance was undeniable. There were few sights in her view as awe-inspiring as Erik when he was totally focused on some grand scheme. However the flip side of this was that there were few sights more pitiful then when his spirits were washed away, as they had been now. 

No, for her own sanity, this situation could not stand. 

She pulled the large sedan they had 'acquired' into the first garage they come across in this sleepy town, little more then a few buildings in the middle of nowhere, the three of them looking like a typically dysfunctional family unit suffering a trip in the wilds. Once the car stopped she turned to John who looked at her with what could best be described as a bored expression. 

"Fill the car up and get some food from the store," she stated, the singsong voice she adopted unable to veil the steel of her resolution. 

John thought better of arguing and slid out of the car, closing the door firmly behind him. 

Mystique turned to Erik and reached forward, her hand shifting to its natural hue and texture as she placed it upon the hand that continued to tap his chin, seemingly unaware that they had even stopped. He started slightly as her cool palm covered the back of his own hand, then slid off it to cup the side of his face, slowly turning it to face her own. 

"Erik," she stated calmly as she looked into his tired eyes, "you never really expected this plan to succeed. We made the best of a situation that fell into own laps." The voice that was not her own made her statement sound almost like motherly advice. 

He smiled slightly at her for a moment before he gently grasped her hand in his and brought it away from his face and down to the space between them. 

"Imagine if I had succeeded..." he began, "all of this would cease to be." 

Mystique despaired though physically betrayed nothing. He could be down like this for weeks, months even; and in such a state was of little use to anyone, himself most of all. 

"They will get what's coming to them soon enough," she stated strongly, "one way or another." 

He gave her a look of concern before tightening his grip slightly, not with the intent to hurt, just so that she would be clear about what he was trying to tell her. 

"You misunderstand. If I had succeeded, I would have been responsible for the deaths of billions. What kind of a monster would that make me?" 

Mystique shook her head at this revelation, realizing that Erik was not upset about the failure of the plan but rather what the consequences of success would have meant for his own soul. 

"Do you think Stryker cared about us or what the world would think of him when he started this, when he tortured you and countless others, his own son included. Xavier would have us turn the other cheek whereas you moved to eliminate the threat. You had the strength to travel the path that Xavier cannot even contemplate. What Xavier and all the others will quickly forget is that you and you alone saved every mutant on the planet. Is that not why we fight this fight, to save our brothers even if they don't or can't appreciate it?" 

Erik smiled at her and raised her slate blue hand to his lips, placing a feathery kiss upon it. 

"I do not deserve you Raven," he stated honestly. 

Even for someone with such supreme mastery of her appearance, Mystique couldn't stop the blush that crept up from somewhere deep inside her. Everyone else got Magneto but she got Erik Lensherr and that gratified her in ways nothing else she knew of could. 

"Truly I don't," he continued, either unaware or untroubled by her reaction. With another kind but tired smile he released her grip on her and physically opened the door of the car stepping out into the cool northern air, the cold snap startling him. 

Mystique watched him walk away from the car and the gas station, down the road a bit to a small bridge that overlooked what amounted to what probably normally amounted to little more then a stream, but seemed to be swelling its banks probably due to the dam break at Alkali lake further north. She watched as he leaned forward to watch the waters gush over banks unused to this level of water. 

Her monitoring of his was interrupted as the back door opened and John threw a load of mostly junk food into the back seat before getting in himself. Immediately noticing the absence up front, he leant forward between the passenger and driver seats. 

"Where's Magneto?" 

"He's up ahead, formulating where we go from here." 

"Don't you have a secret base or something?" he asked by way of a half joke, Saturday mornings spent watching the camp caped crusader having thought him one or two things. 

"As a matter of fact we do," she replied, ignoring the derision in his tone, "but it may not be safe or prudent to return there just yet." 

John raised an eyebrow at the fact at the fact that they might have nowhere to go which didn't really please him. In fact he still wasn't sure what he expected out of all of this. He just knew he was tired of holding back all the time, tired of hiding who and what he was and maybe, buried deep down so it was just an annoying itch, he was tired of not getting the girl. 

While he wasn't sold on many of their ideas, he did feel that at least the Brotherhood could solve two of his major problems straight off the bat and that was more then could be said for staying at the mansion. 

"So what now?" he asked, breaking the silence in the car. 

"We wait," and by we, she clearly meant the two of them. 

And wait they did for what must have been at least a quarter of an hour until finally Mystique saw Erik walking back towards them with a slow and even gait. The door opened and he sat down, aware of the two faces watching him intently, waiting to be led. They needed him to be strong now more then ever. The time he spent watching the river had revealed nothing to him save that his own inner turmoil would have to wait for a more opportune time. 

Without looking at either of them he closed the door with an absent wave of his hand. 

"It's time to go home. We have old friends to find." 

Mystique smiled and gunned the engine, only to happy to be away from this place while John was bemused to find he was going to be living in a secret base for villains. 

* * * * *

  


They didn't exchange a single word during the entire journey back to her place. Every so often when they would have to stop for some reason, the lust would envelope them again, the two of them pressing against each other as they sought reassurance in one another, oblivious to the looks that still confused and scared people would shot at them. 

As they finally entered a nice upper market apartment block, a part of Remy thought of taking her right there on the stairs, so coiled was he now, but her silent stare prompted him forward, promising him a reward that would be everything he could possibly wish for. 

After climbing for what felt like an eternity, she finally led them from the stair well and down a long corridor filled with identical doors save for the brass number plates. Stopping at one she fumbled with her pockets trying to retrieve her key as Remy pushed aside her hair to nuzzle her neck, her hair falling back over his face as he did so, making it hard for her to concentrate on searching. When she finally managed to get her key in the lock, the door was swept open from the inside. 

With his view obscured all Remy could do was silently grimace. It looked like there was already a cock in the hen house. 

"Are you okay? I was so worried abo-" a male voice started in machine gun patter before falling silent as the sight in front of him. 

Remy slowly pushed away from the girl and stood at his full height, a few locks of her hair still clinging to him as he came face to face with this new wrinkle. 

The guy giving him the understandably dirty look was about his height though quite a deal leaner. He was dressed impeccably in a dark gray suit that contrasted sharply with the cropped blond almost white hair that capped a sharp, almost severe face. His steely blue eyes locked with Remy's hidden ones, the look of concern that had crossed his face was quickly replaced by one of contempt. 

"I see you've found another ragged stray to bring home," he stated, his voice haughty as he turned from the two in clear disgust and returned inside, though he left the door open for them, surprising Remy somewhat. It seemed that this little drama had played out before, probably more then once. 

Leaving Remy to just stand and watch, she hastily chased after her well-dressed companion, wrapping herself around him in a tight embrace, pinning his arms and making it difficult for him to move gracefully in any direction but down. 

"Don't worry about him...he's one of us," she stated almost as an aside regarding Remy. 

The man looked down at her, his face betraying an unasked question. 

Before he could say anything she tilted her head and pouted playfully. "Did you come all the way here just to see if I was alright?" she wondered, adopting a baby doll voice. Remy could well imagine that she was fluttering her eyelids. 

"I was alone when I was struck but with your...outgoing nature...I feared the worst," he replied, now looking at her tenderly. 

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before letting go of him, allowing him to smooth his ruffled suit. 

"Isn't he the best?" she asked, now looking at Remy. 

Remy said nothing but ventured slowly into the well furnished if slightly chaotic room. The atmosphere inside was understandably strange but not as hostile as it well might have been. The man promptly sat in a large chair and watched Remy enter with a measured stare. 

"So you're a mutant too?" he asked, his voice still cold but no longer dismissive. 

Remy removed his glasses to reveal his eyes. "I've been called worse." 

The girl left the no man's land between the two men and rejoined Remy, lacing her arm around his waist. 

"What a quaint couple," the other man commented as he rose from his seat to check wristwatch before regarding them once more. "Well if past experience has taught me anything it's that you'll be wanting some privacy." 

Tightening her grip on Remy she responded lazily, "I wouldn't hurry back if I were you. I reckon Remy here has got a lot of energy." 

"Lucky you," he murmured as he walked passed them to the still open door. 

"Well," his voice slow as he enunciated every syllable of the sentence, "I trust you'll enjoy yourself." 

With that he closed the door and left the pair alone. 

"God, I thought he'd never leave," the girl commented with an exaggerated sigh as she released Remy and stepped away from him. 

Though a liberally minded guy by any one's standards, Remy wasn't at all sure about this current situation. Sensing this, the girl turned back to face him as she casually peeled off her crimson shirt to reveal a red lacy bra, a sight that pushed all hesitation from his mind. 

"Don't mind Pietro, he always gets surly if he misses lunch," she advised him as she closed the small distance between them. 

They kissed roughly as she removed his duster and his hands explored her back, separating only when she wanted to remove his shirt. 

"So are you going to tell me your name or am I going to just have to scream "Guy" all afternoon," she asked, admiring his bare chest. 

"Folks call me Remy LeBeau," he replied, his voice husky with desire. 

"Well Remy LeBeau, I'm Wanda Maximoff and I can guarantee you'll be screaming my name." 

* * * * *

  


Bobby crept slowly along the hall, his rubber soled runners barely making the slightest hint of noise as he stole forward. He didn't know why he felt the need to make the journey like some clandestine black op but for some reason brazenly strolling down the corridor just didn't fit the mood of the mansion these past few weeks. 

It was hard to believe it was already weeks since life inside the mansion changed irreversibly 

Though no one spoke openly about it, it was on everyone's mind from the Professor right on down. The higher up the chain you were, the more keenly you felt it so as possibly the most senior student still at the school, Bobby felt it keenly. 

Through a door he could hear murmured voices silence for a moment as he passed, everyone more alert since the mansion had been so brutally violated on a similar night to this. 

He stopped at the next door he came to and tapped gently, not wanting to put anyone's frayed nerves further on edge. A moment's silence passed until the door edged open slightly, a dark gloved hand holding the edge before a little of Marie's face edged into view, most of her features obscured by a cascading fall of intertwined black and white hair. 

"Hey you," Bobby whispered, smiling openly. 

Rogue looked over her shoulder before replying in an equally quiet tone, "Hey yourself." 

"You got company?" he asked before adding, "I can go if you want." 

That felt like a lie. He wasn't sure he would have been able to leave at all. 

"It's okay...just Kitty and Jubes," she responded before opening the door wide enough for him to get in past her. He stood there awkwardly by the door with Kitty and Jubilee look at him from cushions on the floor where it seemed they were playing Monopoly. He nodded silently at them and they returned the gesture, an uneasy silence smothering the atmosphere. 

"You want to play?" Marie asked moving past him to sit on the floor with the other two. 

"Nah, I'll watch you. Anyway who could I play...it looks like one of you already took the dog?" 

They all smiled at this before an uncomfortable silence settled again. This was how it had been ever since; everyone seemed to be caught in a vicious circle of attempting to be cheerful and then feeling guilty whenever they didn't actually feel down in the dumps. 

"It's okay Bobby...we only just started," Kitty stated, eager to break the silence. 

"Yeah. And I'm sure Marie wouldn't mind giving you the dog token," Jubilee added with a teasing smile. 

"You were playing my piece?" Bobby asked gently. 

Marie blushed slightly, still more then a little coy about public shows of affection. 

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Jubilee stated firmly and they all laughed, a genuine heartfelt laugh that shattered the tension in the room. 

Bobby sat down between Jubilee and Marie as Kitty, who was in charge of the bank gathered up the money and redistributed it. Bobby and Jubilee started up an easy and well-practiced patter; a mixture of jibes and jokes that held no hint of malice. Marie would listen absently while watching Kitty expertly divide the money and shuffle the cards. 

The game was played at a leisurely pace with the winning and losing being the least important thing about it. Far more interesting then the game as far as Jubilee and Kitty were concerned was watching the slow crawl at which Bobby and Marie would get closer and closer. It was in many ways a perfect representation of their entire relationship. 

In such an enclosed environment as the mansion where everybody knew everybody, the growing romance between the two had long been the source of gossip. Long before the troubles had started there had been a pool started about whom the enigmatic Rogue would choose between her two most ardent suitors: the livewire John or his best friend Bobby. 

For Jubilee and Kitty, it was always a forgone conclusion. While John's rebel without a cause attitude could always set a girl's heart fluttering, he could also be sullen and cruel without provocation. Bobby on the other hand was a rock of stability and always sensitive to those around him. 

And so everyone watched as the two best friends tentatively grew into something more. There were a number of reasons why it had moved so slowly much to some people's annoyance. For one, Marie's own issues with her power meant that she was hesitant about anything that involved closeness to another human being. For Bobby there was a preoccupation with the specter of Logan, the man who had made such an impact on Marie's life in such a short length of time and finally there was John. Neither of the two of them had any intention of hurting him and so things snailed forward, one slow milestone after another. Even with John's departure, they still were never overt with their feelings in public as this game being played out in her room illustrated perfectly. 

Kitty and Jubilee and a few of the others had speculated if they even knew that they did it. From seating in the den to being picked for activities, they always seemed to find their way haphazardly to each other. 

During the game the two girls would make subtle eye and hand motions to indicate "oh he's moved closer" or "Look! They're less then a foot apart now!" Bobby would throw his die with gusto and lean over to retrieve them and settle down that slightest bit nearer her. She would have to move to place her token and after readjusting would be nearer again. And then finally it would happen, fingers would find gloved fingers and their hands would intertwine gently, the game continuing on as if nothing at all were happening, all the while Kitty and Jubilee would beam at each other. 

Sweet was the only word Kitty could think to describe it. Jubilee had other words but found that sweet was the only one that seemed to fit. 

* * * * *

  


She regarded the sign curiously. Collinswood, 12 miles it stated in large black lettering that she could make out despite the fact it was pitch dark on a moonless night and that there was a snowstorm blowing all around her. Collinswood...it meant nothing to her but...from there she might find something that did mean something to her. 

She had walked for around thirty minutes when she heard a car coming from the same direction she had come. She stopped and waited, knowing that it would quickly catch up with her. 

The fact was he was insane to be out in this weather. Visibility was down to almost nothing and getting worse by the minute. Had he any choice in the matter he'd be at home in bed with his wife, fast asleep but the fact was that the Cuthbert's dog was sickly and he was the nearest vet. The Cuthberts owned a farmhouse just outside Collinswood, a small town just north of Great Bear Lake. Dr Blake Jones knew how much young Maggie Cuthbert loved the dog and could easily imagine her tear-stained face as she sat by him. Hell she probably was there right- 

_STOP_

His foot was on the pedal before he registered another thing. He sat there stunned for a second, still trying to figure out what the hell happened. It's then he noticed the figure on the road ahead of the car, barely visible through the raging snowstorm. 

He opened his door slowly, wary of the kind of person who'd be casually strolling through raging gale like this. 

"Hey," he shouted over the whipping wind, "are you alright?" 

_I'm fine_, the woman's voice informed with such clarity that she could have been standing right beside him. Her voice was calm, soothing almost. 

He brought up his hand to block the snow from his face, hoping he could see her with greater clarity. It was then he realized that she was as naked as the day she was born. His medical training quickly overtook his initial surprise. 

She must be in shock. This cold would stop a bear dead in its tracks. 

_It's okay_, she reassured him, her voice alarmingly clear despite nature's howl, _this temperature is not a threat to me._

"But miss...you haven't got any clothes on," he shouted over the din, hardly able to believe he was pointing out something so blatantly obvious. The practical side of his head took over and he rushed around the back of his van to retrieve one of a number of large blankets he kept for his practice. The woman looked up from where she seemed to be content to examine her arm like she had never seen it before as Blake staggered towards her holding a large blanket. 

He quickly wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and prompted her back towards his car. Seemingly oblivious to the maelstrom she casually strode over to it. Blake quickly opened the door for her and after a second's hesitation she sat in. 

Blake closed the door and quickly rounded the car and hopped in the driver's seat and removed his hat. He began to look at her out of the corner of his eye but couldn't help but stare when he noticed that she wasn't shivering in the slightest, in fact she showed no sign of being out in the snow at all. There were no flakes of snow in her long wild dark red hair or any moisture on her bare arms, legs and feet. 

Not being able to come up with a rational reason for this, he worked with what he did know and that was that he was not trained to deal with...whatever it is she had. 

Gunning the engine he spoke quickly, informing her of what he was going to do. 

"I'll take you to Collinswood. There's a doctor theren who'll be able to help you...Must have one hell of a fever not to notice this snap, or be high on drugs or something," though the last part went unsaid. "You have a name, miss?" 

She looked at him for a moment before offering him an answer. 

"I can't remember it," she stated finally, a look of bewilderment dawning on her striking features. 

To be continued... 


End file.
